The two-storeyed circular body of the Round Church has an outside diameter of 60 ft (18.29 metres). The walls of the Church are 2 ft 9 ins (0.84 m) thick.
The main central pillar, which is 19 ins (0.48 m) in diameter at the base, is of timber, possibly hemlock oak, harled and plastered. The base has been scorched (to seal the wood against decay) and rounded, to fit a saucer-shaped recess in the supporting sandstone slab.
This slab, supported in turn by a stone base, is only four inches below the actual flooring of the Church and has a drain hole to prevent water collecting and rotting the base of the pillar. The squared top of the pillar, above the coved ceiling, supports a radial king-post roof truss, into which eight major beams are jointed, which, in turn, are tenoned into the principal rafters at their outer ends.
Outside, above the main entrance door, on a sandstone tablet set into the face of the square tower, there is the following Latin inscription:- http://www.theroundchurch.org.uk/history.html
Pics taken on Friday 23rd Nov
Rear of the Church
Front Elevation
Side Elevation with tower
Sandy at the Church to give it some scale
From the film "The Maggie" in 1954. You can see the church in the background
To do:
Place these onto the Wiki!
The Round Church WebsiteA video about Islay
The Church in snow
History
The two-storeyed circular body of the Round Church has an outside diameter of 60 ft (18.29 metres). The walls of the Church are 2 ft 9 ins (0.84 m) thick.The main central pillar, which is 19 ins (0.48 m) in diameter at the base, is of timber, possibly hemlock oak, harled and plastered. The base has been scorched (to seal the wood against decay) and rounded, to fit a saucer-shaped recess in the supporting sandstone slab.
This slab, supported in turn by a stone base, is only four inches below the actual flooring of the Church and has a drain hole to prevent water collecting and rotting the base of the pillar. The squared top of the pillar, above the coved ceiling, supports a radial king-post roof truss, into which eight major beams are jointed, which, in turn, are tenoned into the principal rafters at their outer ends.
Outside, above the main entrance door, on a sandstone tablet set into the face of the square tower, there is the following Latin inscription:-
http://www.theroundchurch.org.uk/history.html
Pics taken on Friday 23rd Nov
Sandy at the Church to give it some scale
From the film "The Maggie" in 1954. You can see the church in the background